Episode 6 Robot Wars

Welcome to Robot Wars, where anyone with a fiendish imagination

and a spanner can build a machine to take on the world.

Pit lanes packed with bartenders, school teachers...

even junior doctors all gearing up to fight.

Tonight, after five gruelling heats, we've reached our grand final.

30 teams began, but only one can become

the new Robot Wars champion.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

After weeks of the toughest...

..most hazardous...

-SHE SCREAMS

-..arena-smashing battles ever...

..tonight we'll finally crown the new Robot Wars champion.

Welcome to the grand final.

CHEERING

The heat winners from the past five shows

have earned their places here tonight.

Joining them will be one wild card.

And for the first time ever, to decide who gets it, second and third

place teams from every heat will battle it out in a 10 Robot Rumble.

The 10 Robot Rumble will be the most fun you can ever have.

It's going to be utter chaos.

The winner of the wild card going through to fight in tonight's show

will be the last robot standing.

One massive fight with everyone going at each other,

I think, could be a problem if someone presses the pit button.

It'll just look like a complete war zone.

To get through that, you're going to have to be something pretty special.

No time limit, no rules, no mercy.

It is going to be brutal.

It could be one of the most epic fights we've ever had.

CHEERING

-COMMENTATOR:

-This is going to be the granddaddy of grand finals.

Each heat winner has blazed their way through three robot battles

to get here, but the hardest fights are yet to come.

The rules of the Robot Rumble are simple - there are no rules!

Cease will be called when only one robot remains active,

they will be crowned the victor and they'll claim their place

in the grand final, alongside the five heat finalists.

The ten robots in the Robot Rumble are...

Apollo, Eruption, Terrorhurtz, Concussion,

Thor, Sabretooth, Big Nipper, Track-tion, Iron-Awe 6, Expulsion.

It's time for the biggest battle in Robot Wars history.

If I don't survive this, tell my wives - all 162 of them -

I love them. It's battle time!

ROBOTIC VOICE: Roboteers, stand by.

Oh, I am so looking forward to this.

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Off we go, Thor first on the attack.

Oh, little bit strange, isn't it? Sort of cardboard spinner there.

On top of Track-tion.

-It's chaos!

-Go on, go on!

-No!

Oh, my God!

Waiting in the corner, measuring everyone up,

Eruption there with the yellow and black stripes.

Track-tion, I think... Oh, I think that they've lost some track.

-ALARM BLARES

-There's Thor with a little nudge on the Doom Dial.

Oh, goodness me.

Well, there's still life in Track-tion...

-Oh, no! Expulsion have gone!

-Cater rods!

-The rods, no!

Terrorhurtz attacking Track-tion, Apollo getting buckled in as well.

Ooh, the meat in the sandwich there

between Sabretooth and Concussion teaming up well.

ROBOTIC VOICE: The Fog Of War.

Fog Of War!

The Fog Of War. This is going to help me, isn't it?

Fog out there as well, on top of everything else.

Uh... Track-tion, yes, still in there.

Ah! They've gone!

Track-tion, finally out. So two have gone. How can you enjoy THAT?!

Terrorhurtz, with all the experience there, John and Nick.

ALARM BLARES

There's a big flip from Apollo

-on Iron-Awe.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: The Fog Of War.

Doom Dial again... Fog...Of...War!

I've no idea what's happening.

They're just about hanging on, are they, out there?

Let's get rid of the fog, I can't see!

Apollo... Oh, and that's a great attack on Sabretooth!

Apollo looks strong in this then, so far.

Oh, but Eruption nearly got caught in with the house robot.

The sneaky attack... Oh, mighty, mighty slam there!

There's Iron-Awe 6 back in towards the Doom Dial.

-ALARM BLARES

-Down it goes again.

ROBOTIC VOICE: Rogue House Robot.

Rogue house robots now, taking on Iron-Awe.

There's Big Nipper, first time we've really seen Big Nipper

in this amazing 10 Robot Rumble.

Concussion still in there, the orange machine as well.

And once again, Iron-Awe go for the tyre.

ROBOTIC VOICE: The Fog Of War.

Fog Of War! Where are your fog lights?!

Come out, I'm over there somewhere.

Please, help me, roboteers!

The pit has two, I fear there will be more...

Sabretooth still rumbling around.

Big Nipper with a big pinch there as well.

Graeme Dawson, what a good roboteer he is.

It's very, very... Oh, who's that gone down?!

Iron-Awe 6 in the pit. How many robots have we got out there now?

Six, seven, I make it, seven.

Oh, down to six! Concussion have gone!

-Oh, my days!

-Oh-h-h-h!

It's like a rubbish bin out there.

The rubbish bin of Robot Wars...dreams.

Now, Sabretooth, with the drum on the front of Eruption's flipper.

Ah, come on!

A very passionate Gabriel at the controls of Sabretooth.

A flip for Terrorhurtz, big machine to lift in the air...

Terrorhurtz, are they in trouble? They need to self-right!

Oh, no. No, no. Away we go!

John Reid needs to self-right Terrorhurtz... And he does so!

-We're up, we're good.

-Carry on.

They're still out there fighting. There's Terrorhurtz...

Oh! Down comes the axe on top of Sabretooth.

Through the murky mists I can just about make out the house robot now.

I can see Eruption... being taken on by Big Nipper.

-The Doom Dial goes down again.

-ALARM BLARES

ROBOTIC VOICE: Rogue House Robot.

We have the dial, we have a house robot.

We have Killalot coming out into the fray. He wants Eruption.

For some reason Killalot has a feud with Eruption...

And now Apollo in trouble as well.

They've gone for Apollo.

But they're OK, it would seem.

Sabretooth, they've gone! They're in the pit.

Ah-ha!

Terrorhurtz under pressure.

-There is still enough power in the Eruption flipper.

-Damn!

-Young Michael Oates at the controls.

-ALARM BLARES

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Rogue House Robot.

-Terrorhurtz picked up here.

Oh, by Sir Killalot, this late on.

-ROBOTEERS:

-Oh!

Oh, and this late on for Thor as well!

It's all come to an end, he's down the pit!

And Killalot has Terrorhurtz.

Well, throw us, come on.

-Oh, this is painful...

-Oh, come on!

-..for John Reid.

No! No, no, no, no! No!

That's not right, that's not right.

It isn't right, John Reid, it's brutal,

but them's the rules, son, get on with it!

And I think Sir Killalot's been gentle!

Thank you!

Oh, my goodness me, I never thought I'd see the day.

Sir Killalot's gone all mushy.

Three robots remaining.

Apollo and Eruption surely the favourites now together out there.

Terrorhurtz...

Have they got any gas left?

Terrorhurtz shoving Eruption around...

but they're very close to the arena wall!

And they get a big flip,

and I think that is it for Terrorhurtz.

We almost made it.

So, two robots left, we have Eruption on the attack,

we have Apollo in orbit.

Apollo in trouble and Eruption senses it.

And Eruption comes in again.

And Eruption's going for the kill.

And Eruption turns away, they know they've done it.

CHEERING

Ten robots started and I think we've got one winner.

I think Eruption are the winners.

-KLAXON BLARES

-Eruption are the winners.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

-What a fight.

Please, bring me my cocoa and a bed.

Look at the robot rubbish in the bin.

And I feel just like them, I've had enough, I quit!

Michael faced controversy in the heat

after beating best friends Aftershock...

Down, Will.

And look at the power of Eruption!

-Oh.

-Oh, my God.

-Oh, my God!

-ANGELA:

-..before being despatched by champions Carbide.

On one hit, Carbide's deflected off and sort of come round

and taken our wheel out.

He then played the smart game in the 10 Robot Rumble.

-LAUGHING:

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-WOMAN: Well done.

-Oh, you're so...

To be honest, my favourite shot of the entire melee is this one shot,

-and in the foreground you can see it's just going crazy.

-Yeah.

And just behind them is you.

-Yeah.

-Just standing in the corner, just watching it all unfold.

-Yeah.

-That was a deliberate thing?

-Yeah, course it was.

I mean, you've got some really nasty spinners in there,

but they've only got so much battery.

If you can hang back, let them use it up on...

-And everybody else went straight in, they were straight in...

-Yeah.

..and I was happy for them to do that.

-If they all take each other out...

-Yeah...

-..I'm OK with that.

Well deserved.

Michael the great tactician takes tonight's grand final wild card.

From here the teams begin by fighting in the group battles.

The winners from each go straight to the semifinal,

while the four losers fight again

for a chance to stay in the competition.

Let's meet the best of the best in our first group battle.

ROBOTIC VOICE: From Derby...

So I like to think I'm one of the best drivers in the competition.

I think that's been proven over the last couple of years.

No-one seems to be able to outdrive the machine.

Carbide... So, we've learnt a few tricks from them.

We've got a different type of scoop as well,

which will deflect their spinner.

I think we may have a good chance of actually beating them.

ROBOTIC VOICE: From Hemel Hempstead...

For me, to keep coming back to do Robot Wars,

it's actually built into me now.

It's something we've been doing so long,

it actually would feel wrong not to be doing it.

ROBOTIC VOICE: From Crewkerne...

Yeah, I think we're pretty much as surprised as anyone

to see Nuts this far.

As a flail spinner, we have the advantage of a lot of reach,

we've got about a metre of flail each side,

so it can reach into places where people don't normally armour.

It's not the hardest-hitting robot,

but it'll hit places where people aren't expecting.

We kind of see it that if someone uses entanglement

against us and it doesn't work, then they'll be punished accordingly.

Nuts 2 and Behemoth have reason for revenge.

Carbide, the reigning champions,

-have smashed them both up before.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Roboteers, standby.

Will they team up against Carbide? Carbide the favourites, certainly.

CHEERING

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Carbide, bottom of your picture, coming on.

Behemoth, to the right-hand side,

comes in with a little nudge on the reigning champions.

Nuts 2, whirling up to speed.

The other two machines need to stop Nuts 2 getting up to speed

or stay out of trouble from that huge weaponry -

when they spin, they spin to win.

There at the controls of Behemoth, Ant, awesome driving.

Ooh! That's one of the Nuts 2

little minibots out there.

-ALARM BLARES

-And they pushed the pit,

and down go Behemoth!

-Ah!

-Oh!

-What happened there?

The little one pushed the pit.

Aw, dang it!

Utter confusion in the Behemoth team.

Oh, and, well, that's gone. I think that was Carbide's chain...

..which drives the weaponry... in that last attack by Nuts 2.

The weapon's not working, the big bar spinner,

which means all they've got now left is...push-ability, the big shove,

and an occasional mistake by Nuts 2 - and they had one there -

but they've got nothing really now to use against Nuts 2,

apart from the ability to push.

And Nuts 2, as you can see, a very, very difficult machine

to get close to, to push.

You get close to Nuts 2 and you're going to be destroyed.

-And Carbide...

-ALARM BLARES

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Rogue House Robot.

-..is releasing the dial,

is releasing the rogue house robot... Sir Killalot comes out now.

What can Carbide do then?

Dodging flame pits and spikes and floor flippers and wedges.

They can't really fight each other.

Carbide's reign of terror could be coming to an end

-as we go to Fog Of War...

-ALARM BLARES

-..which really doesn't help things at all, ladies and gentlemen.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Fog Of War.

There's a little wedge again,

trying to pin Carbide to the spot by wedging it,

so Carbide can't get any traction... And Nuts 2 think they've won it.

Is that it?

Sam and Dave look resigned. They're immobilised, I think.

The judges are ready to count them down and out.

Move then, just do something.

Carbide has one wheel spinning, but not the other.

-They need to move.

-Five, four, three, two...

They're being counted down. Oh, goodness me!

How did they survive that?!

Just one second - he got away!

They were nearly counted out.

A little nudge from the wedge helps, but Nuts 2 on top.

Carbide need a miracle.

Yeah, basically, it's a tiny robot is beating Carbide.

Oh, the ignominy. The champions being chased around by a tiny,

teeny, touchy little thing.

There's Nuts 2 with the big, big flail.

No chain for Carbide.

He looks perplexed.

He now has to fight a very tactical battle, but Nuts 2...

so, so obstinate.

Go on, go on. Pin him. Pin him in.

Nuts 2 are pirouetting. That's for show, showboating, but why not?

Because ultimately,

and I think this terrific battle will go the distance.

Tyre's looking a bit knackered.

Nuts 2 have done enough and I think Sam and Dave know it.

What an upset this is.

I have never seen Carbide

-in this particular predicament...

-KLAXON BLARES

ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

..as we go to cease.

-Well done, guys.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

-Well done, guys.

What a performance by Nuts.

Well, Behemoth with the aluminium scoop bucket designed to take hits

and did from Carbide, but they got themselves parked on the pits

as the little wedge robot sent the pit down and Behemoth with it.

But Carbide rendered impotent when the chain came off.

And Nuts 2, so often a joke character in Robot Wars,

now to be taken seriously.

Carbide killers.

Aw, I mean, who would have thought

that this innocent, bug-eyed little fella would do so much damage?

-I know, pesky little thing there, uh?

-Pesky little thing.

-Yeah!

I was doing a swing round and all of a sudden

heard a noise and it just disappeared.

OK, well, listen, good luck in the Robot Redemption.

-Thank you.

-Please make some noise for Behemoth.

CHEERING

-So that's the big story, the weapon stopped.

-Yeah.

And why...? Was it...? Was it a clash with Behemoth

or did you get a knock on the entanglement here?

No, one of their flails span round and hit us right on the chain,

on the front of the weapon, and took it out.

I've never seen Carbide in as much difficulty

in this kind of situation.

But the fight went on. To be honest, I don't think I should be interviewing you, I should be

interviewing whoever drove the tiny robot, the tiny baby robot.

Yeah, that was Alex. Alex did an amazing job.

So, after the adjudicators have looked back over the fight

and have gone through their various different criteria,

the winner, unanimously,

is Nuts.

-Nuts have won the battle.

-What?!

-CHEERING

Nuts has beaten Carbide.

-Nuts is through to the semifinal of the grand final.

-Oh, my...

-How...?!

-Well done, mate.

-You've won, you've won. That is...

My commiserations, you will fight another day, we know that,

but congratulations!

-If you want a hug, you can hug.

-Oh, go for it, go for it. Oh!

It's very, very good. Well done, Nuts.

There's a feeling of shock as two of the favourites to win,

not just the fight, but the title, find themselves having to

battle again just to stay in the competition.

I think Carbide thought that Nuts and Behemoth

would be a pretty easy ride, an old machine and the joke robot.

They are rattled.

Yeah, not as confident as we usually see Carbide.

It's definitely got to them.

They did really well, decisive win there. Well-Well... Well driven.

What's that?

They did well, to be fair to them.

Those little mini bots are pretty annoying.

But there's not a lot you can do about them.

The robot disappeared into a hole.

But that's the way it goes, unfortunately.

But it's all smiles for Nuts 2, as they're through to the semifinals.

After that huge upset, it's time for our second group battle.

ROBOTIC VOICE: From London...

Rapid really is just silly.

I mean, if you were going to dial everything up and make it,

that's...that's what Rapid is.

I tell you why we painted it gold, as a big middle finger.

HE LAUGHS

If we're going to be the money boys, we may as well be gold.

To be in the final of Robot Wars is just a fantastic feeling.

When you know that you're playing with some of the best

and you get to give it your best shot against the best,

you just can't ask for more, it's fantastic.

ROBOTIC VOICE: From Madeley...

Magnetar is the highest kinetic energy drum spinner

in Robot Wars and we're going to send the competition flying.

The only thing that could stop Magnetar is itself.

CHEERING

The one thing I've always known my whole life -

I was like three years old, I was like, "I want to do that.

"I want to be on that show and I want to win Robot Wars".

ROBOTIC VOICE: From Cheshire...

I see it more as me versus somebody else rather than robot versus robot.

And it's a really complicated issue and it gets really serious.

People do not get how seriously people take this show.

Make no mistake, this is a really serious competition

and everyone's here to win.

CHEERING

Out they come. Eruption, who came through that 10 Robot Rumble

so brilliantly, so superbly controlled.

Ellis Ware at the controls of Magnetar.

-Good luck, guys.

-Yeah, you too.

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Here's Rapid, trying to get in on Eruption there.

Oh, Michael's hanging back again.

-Rapid coming in.

-MECHANICAL WHIRRING

Ooh, what's that I hear? It's the drum of Magnetar!

-Whirring up to speed...

-Oh!

-..and a big hit on Rapid,

and that was a mighty hit.

WATCHING AUDIENCE: Oh!

HE LAUGHS MANICALLY

Elastic's gone.

Big slam...on Rapid.

Rapid the favourites here.

And now they're in trouble from the house robot too.

This is a tense one.

Magnetar trying to get in underneath the flipper of Eruption.

Magnetar suddenly emerging as the dark horses here,

as Rapid overturned again.

-Will they run out of power?

-MECHANICAL HUMMING

Magnetar, listen to the death hum.

That's it, we're out.

The drum, whirring up to speed. Rapid looks a little bit ponderous.

-How did you do that?!

-Go, go, go! HE LAUGHS

They're OK now, they're dodging away from...

It's all about Magnetar taking on Eruption.

Eruption has the power, of course, in that situation to flip

and Magnetar drove in a little bit naively on Eruption and got flipped.

-ALARM BLARES

-We have the dial.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Rogue House Robot.

-Dead Metal is the rogue robot

coming out onto Eruption...

..and trying to slice and dice.

We have all three robots still in the fray.

Big flip for Rapid once again, can they continue to self-right?

MANIC LAUGHTER

-That's the end of that...

-That's the end of him.

Oh, Rapid's gone!

Rapid can't even self-right, can he now?

Rapid, favourites for this battle, are out! They cannot self-right.

They're immobilised.

And we have Magnetar against Eruption,

the two proteges have beaten the master.

How about that?

Eruption, don't forget, has its mighty flipping power.

In the last series, Michael flipped four of his five opponents

out of the arena.

But it's Magnetar doing the chasing and the pushing

into the CPZ of Dead Metal.

Eruption, getting in underneath Magnetar.

-ALARM BLARES

-Magnetar pushes the tyre.

We have the pit going down. We need to be wary of that.

Now... Oh! Eruption almost onto the fly tail of Matilda

and that would have been disastrous for them!

-Oh, what's happened here to Ellis?

-No.

Matilda has caused the damage.

Self-right is dead.

-He's hobbling out into a victory. He has, he's won it!

-Nice!

Eruption have won this on the back of the 10 Robot Rumble,

that is staggering!

-That is incredible.

-KLAXON BLARES

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

-Durability, creativity.

-Hard luck, guys.

-Great control. What a performance.

-Unlucky, that was a good fight though.

-Yeah, it was a good fight...

-Caused a lot of damage though.

-Yeah.

It was the big early hit from Magnetar that put pay to Rapid.

They got the drum up to full speed, look at the impact there.

But they knew exactly what they had to do, Eruption.

Eruption got a big flip in there and there's a massive hit from Matilda.

And that's what immobilised Magnetar.

Self-righter, gone. Eruption, winners.

The four losers from the group stages now battle it out

in the Robot Redemption.

It's a must-win fight as the losers will be going home.

But there's salvation

for the winners

as they go through

to the semifinal.

Our first Robot Redemption battle

is between Behemoth and Magnetar.

-You're fighting Behemoth?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Behemoth's been around a while.

-Since I was two.

Really?! You're only two years older than the robot you're fighting?

When they built the first version of Behemoth, yeah.

-OK, cool, good luck.

-Yeah, thank you.

Behemoth, to me, is very important.

I mean, it has literally been around almost half my life.

I've grown up with it now and it's sort of, like, in me.

OK, it might look like it's the same robot,

but, yeah, we are evolving it every single time.

And you might see this or you might not,

it depends on how closely you look at the robot.

The truth is, as with all of the flipper versus kind of vertical spinner fights,

is that it's a game of who gets underneath.

So, if I'm running well and the drum's spinning good and the self-righter's working,

there's not an awful lot they can do to me to hurt me, um...

It's going to be a matter of that first hit.

BANG!

We have the oldest-serving robot in the competition

and Behemoth is going to teach you a lesson.

CHEERING

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Great run in this competition from Behemoth,

moving in from the left-hand side.

They can use that scoop bucket, you know,

to get Magnetar close to the arena side wall and flip it out.

Magnetar self-righting.

You need to go low to get in a blow, according to Ellis,

and that's what he did, and Behemoth here in trouble.

Self-right, self-right, self-right.

And, of course, every time they self-right,

they use all-powerful fuel.

And Magnetar, again, trying to drive in underneath the scoop,

the intention there to detail

and concentration on the face of Ellis Ware.

But this is where Behemoth can be powerful.

Behemoth on the drive... Ooh, they just overextended themselves

and Magnetar can come in underneath.

And Magnetar has Behemoth pinned against the arena side wall.

-Sorry, I can't watch it.

-MECHANICAL WHIRRING

Listen to the whir of the drum. Again, it's Magnet...

Oh, it's a death wail and Behemoth is in peril, but it rolls away,

tries to get the scoop in underneath.

Magnetar holds its ground. Great battle again.

I've got radio issues, I think. Something weird.

Yeah, I've lost... I've got no radio signal.

Does the Magnetar drum work? I think the Magnetar weapon's gone.

The Magnetar weapon has gone and Behemoth now can sense that...

Look, almost like a smile of satisfaction

on the face of Ant Pritchard.

They're stuffed, I think.

But I think they might be in trouble, Behemoth,

that maybe the drive on one section has gone.

Well, Behemoth are stuck in gear.

Behemoth still moving, but they'll only be moving slowly

because I think the six-wheel drive, change of a drive system,

has been damaged in some way.

Magnetar here could go on and win this,

as long as they stay out of trouble.

-Can you try the drum again?

-I have.

Ellis Ware, as long as he doesn't get flipped,

could go on and win this.

If you can get him over...

Behemoth know they're in trouble. Oh, no, they've come so far.

-Oh! Look at that! They've flipped Magnetar!

-No!

They did get the flip in, I can see no way back here for Magnetar.

Is he stuck?

They've waited so long for this moment, Behemoth.

So many years of trouble and strife

and now, what a moment of joy for them.

Poor old Magnetar,

-I thought they had it won.

-KLAXON BLARES

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

-So close.

-What do I know?

Ellis, you nearly had us.

They've waited so long for this, the Behemoth team, so very, very long.

They will cherish this moment.

But, Magnetar,

the moment comes where one is dropped into one's pit. Bye-bye.

Once Behemoth realised they could get the scoop to work

and flip Magnetar over, this was only going to end one way.

Magnetar needed the power of its drum spinner, causing

damage like that, but they needed to sustain it throughout the battle.

But the key came when the spinner stopped.

And Behemoth could get on the attack and flip Magnetar.

No spinner, no streamer, Behemoth winner.

You had all your bad luck, I think,

in the previous round, where you end up in the pit.

-Yes, disappeared in the pit.

-Yes! And then you got it back

because once he'd been flipped onto his side...

-Yeah, I flipped him once and he self-righted...

-Yeah.

..but then his self-right stayed open, so I knew all I had to do

was get him one more time, and that's why I just kept moving.

-Right.

-And then his disc stopped.

-His disc stopped? Yeah.

-I thought, "This is it,

"I just need to try and get it into position."

As soon as I saw him kink, just up on the edge of the bucket,

-I fired, and over it went.

-Very, very good.

-Listen, good luck, lads.

-Thank you very much.

-Go do your repairs.

-Cheers, thank you.

Well, you had one self-right, didn't you?

-If you'd had one more...

-Yeah.

-..you'd have won.

Battle-hardened Behemoth go through, while young whizz kid, Ellis,

must return to the pits to reflect on what could have been.

Ellis... What happened?

I don't really know.

You were on a lucky streak! It was...

-It was, it was going well at first, wasn't it?

-It was.

It was, yeah, and then, uh...

-Oh, lost a screw, sorry, there you go.

-Oh, no! Salt in the wound.

Behemoth had been immobilised, it was running on one wheel,

so if you had stayed away you would have had it.

Well, I did for a long time and I saw they weren't being counted out,

so I started to approach them again and, obviously, that bit me.

Well, we're sad to see you go, but best of luck.

-We'll see you next time.

-Cheers.

We're semifinalists and to be one fight away,

it makes it even more so that we really need...

We really need to get this win to get into that final.

Time for our last

Robot Redemption battle.

Who'd have thought we'd see

reigning champion Carbide

fighting for survival?

They'll need to defeat Josh's super high-powered Rapid

to avoid the biggest shock of the competition.

The biggest problem is the elastic went,

so we've found a new way to do the elastic.

I don't know if it's going to work, but there's no way

to contain the amount of power that's in it.

We wanted to build something stupid,

uh, double backflips seemed to prove that.

Rapid really is quite silly, I mean, we've made the weapon ridiculously

powerful, the armour's pretty strong as well and the drive is

20 horsepower, it's about as strong as any other drive in the pits.

Can you get me another disc, Andy?

This is the elastic that retracts the flipper on.

There are no equations for controlling a pneumatic...

cylinder retracts in that kind of environment.

You just have to try things.

The hardest thing about designing something like Rapid is

actually protecting it from itself and not other people.

I think we're going to try and drive an attack on the left-hand side

because we kind of spin clockwise, so it'll hit them right

on their front corner.

So if we can rip that off...

Yeah, try to get the upper hand, get the first chunk out, then,

we'll be in a good place.

There was a lot of machines this year that are, on paper,

bigger and badder than Carbide, but when it actually comes down to it,

we'll see how that works out for them.

Rapid have stuck some bits and bobs on the side there

to try and entangle us...

-Good luck for them, with that.

-HE LAUGHS

If we keep spinning, I don't think they'll be too much of an issue.

CHEERING

Have Carbide fully repaired the bar spinner? That's the big question,

against Rapid, the dark destroyer of Robot Wars.

Well, in their dreams, anyway.

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

And out comes Carbide, Rapid getting in underneath Carbide

and lifting it into the...

That's 110 kilos of robot, by the way,

they just lifted into the air there, and got in underneath.

Our Shunt in the CPZ.

Rapid trying to line up an attack.

We know Carbide are specifically targeting one area of Rapid!

But Carbide fighting for their lives now!

The reigning champions are really in trouble.

Oh, and Carbide comes in with a mighty slam

and that's ripped a side, one of the side panels of Rapid!

Rapid gets a flip.

Oh, but look at this! That's CO...

No, it's not CO2, they're on fire, I think! They're on fire!

-Smokescreen... Haven't seen that weapon before.

-No.

They are absolutely on fire!

There is a big Robot Wars technical term for this - Rapid is bust!

-That's electrical smoke.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

Oh! Come on, baby, light my fire.

Rapid didn't want to hear that, not at this stage.

Smoke is pouring out.

One puff, two puff smoke signals, which mean, "We're out!"

-Oh, no, we're out.

-That's the end of that.

It's the old Carbide back with us though.

Mean and merciless, they love their weaponry.

Again... Oh, please, stop, and he's had enough.

-Our message to you, Rapid...

-KLAXON BLARES

-You're fired!

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

CHEERING

-Well done.

-Sorry about the cloud of smoke!

-Well done.

-Went through the bulkhead, I think.

-Well done, that was good.

-Well done.

-That's going to smell bad in there.

-You've done your own Fog Of War now.

Well, they'll want to go back in and have a look at Rapid

and see exactly what went... Oh, they won't now!

Wow! Rapid's on fire!

-Oh! Rapid's going on fire!

-Hello! That is a big fire.

The most expensive robot in Robot Wars history is worth...

buttons and beans now!

-LAUGHTER

-Aw, it's really burning!

-What's happening?!

-Aw, it's burning!

It's burning! Somebody get in there! Carbide, what are you doing?!

-Got any marshmallows?

-Oh, no!

That's the way to go out. That's fantastic!

It did look like Rapid almost got rid of you over the...

-Almost, almost. So close.

-Yeah.

-That's the closest a flipper's ever got to...

-Yeah.

Didn't quite get to the edge, did we?

We were just a bit too far away, but...

Well, Rapid, that's you out of the competition.

You've been absolutely fantastic. Thanks for coming.

-Carbide, through to the semifinals.

-Thank you, guys.

-Well done again.

Carbide did so well, because make no mistake, the champions

were on the edge of oblivion here, they nearly went out of the arena.

But there came the big slam on Rapid,

that's what caused the problem, off came the side panel.

Carbide could sense they were on top.

Rapid were in trouble and that's when we saw the smoke.

And that's where we saw Rapid coming to a grizzly end

and Carbide turned this battle on its head.

That's the very stuff of champions, Carbide.

Once the safety teams have made the fire safe,

Rapid's escorted from the building

and Josh can reflect on the robot dreams that just went up in flames.

..I could have done that.

That was the best way you could ever leave this competition.

I'm happy.

So, a decisive victory for champions Carbide

and we now have our semifinalists -

Nuts 2, Eruption, Behemoth and Carbide.

It's Eruption against Behemoth

in our first battle.

We're just going to do what we always do.

We're going to go into that arena...

Yes, I'm going to think about it, I'm going to have all my tactics,

I'm going to take it really seriously.

I'm going to try and win,

and when they call activate we're going to absolutely go for it.

Eruption.

-Yes.

-How are you feeling about that?

They were very happy to have been put forward against you.

I imagine Michael is, yeah. He's, uh...

He's had us out of the arena more than once.

-Yes or no - can you do it?

-Yes. Yes, we can do it.

-That'll do. Good luck.

-Thank you.

CHEERING

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Eruption, singularly one of the most impressive robots

throughout this series.

Oh, wow.

Behemoth are straight in!

A little panicky, but Eruption has the big self-righting mechanism.

Behemoth comes in for another scramble!

Nearly got caught by Dead Metal.

Get out of there, Behemoth,

otherwise you will be pinched and sawn to bits, Behemoth.

But it's pretty impressive stuff at the moment by the Behemoth team.

Eruption gathering its senses.

Keep it gentle, keep it gentle.

Eruption... When you think it took a judge's decision in their heat

to get beyond Big Nipper in the heat semifinal.

It is very aggressive.

What a hit there on Behemoth. Behemoth is in trouble.

Behemoth is flipped into the air, huge power on that lift...

Oh, goodness, that's electrifying! Behemoth in real trouble now.

Can they self-right?

-They fall against the tyre.

-ALARM BLARES

-Forward, forward, forward.

-Left, left! Come on, come on!

Which means the dial goes to release a house rogue robot,

it is Dead Metal and good driving as well.

Keep... Mark it down until you're sure.

Away from Michael Oates in the controls of Eruption.

Oh, Jesus, this is a good fight.

This is a really good fight again.

We are seeing one of the best episodes ever of Robot Wars, for me.

Eruption, getting in underneath Behemoth.

Oh, he's just letting him use up the gas.

Is there any more life in Behemoth?

Behemoth twisting and turning in the air,

like a pirouetting ballet dancer.

-MAN SHOUTS: You can do it, Eruption!

-In underneath goes Eruption again.

Behemoth backs away, tries to get some room to manoeuvre

-and drive in on the scoop.

-KLAXON BLARES

-We have Fog Of War.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: The Fog Of War.

-They're trying to get some sort of vantage point.

-Where am I?

-Back. Forward, forward, forward.

-Right. Forward, forward, forward.

Behemoth, when it gets up to speed,

can use that bucket scoop to its full potential.

But Eruption's dodged away from it again.

The scoop is not low enough, it feels like.

I know. I know, they can't get underneath it.

What a good driver, Michael Oates.

What a brilliant young roboteer he is.

No wonder he put off his studies at Durham University

to finish his Robot Wars dream.

Save the flipper.

Behemoth backing away and still in there, fighting so very, very hard.

It rolls, it hits the tyre. Eruption senses they're on top now.

And Behemoth is in trouble.

Oh, rolls across the arena floor... And into Matilda territory!

Oh-ho! That was amazing.

Roly-poly Behemoth and Eruption! Mean and merciless Michael Oates!

Up into the air, can he get them out of the arena?

Can he get them out?

-No! No!

-He's got it the next, third time lucky...

No, he's on the wrong angle.

It would be the coup de grace.

It'll be horrible for Behemoth. Stay in there, Behemoth, go on!

Back, centre of the arena, Ant, go to the centre of the arena.

Is there any mobility left in Behemoth?

Yes, there is, sir, still in there fighting,

but Eruption here, really on top now.

-Oh!

-So determined to get him out.

-Desperate to get him out!

Come on!

Look at the battles they've come through

and surely they'll get it out?!

Oh, no!

They can't lift it out.

It's a huge, great thing, Behemoth. They're going to have another go!

KLAXON BLARES Cease.

Cease is called.

What a sensational bout again.

They square up, they face each other, what a battle that was.

Judges will decide.

Shaking, man! Oh, God.

That was one of the best fights there's been.

-A good fight, a really good fight, a good scrap.

-Yeah.

Great... Great driving.

Well, they'll be marking on control, damage and aggression.

Behemoth the aggressor early on.

Eruption up against a machine that is as big as my beer belly.

Eruption in trouble, but from this moment on...

they got in underneath that big beer belly

and they flipped it once and twice and thrice and so many times.

Mighty flip into the clutches of Dead Metal.

Think of the courage of the Behemoth team, think of the engineering that

went in to produce a machine that can sustain this sort of damage.

The best Behemoth we've ever seen. Took Eruption all the way.

Crashing, bashing, smashing, but still fighting.

-That was a great fight.

-Yes.

That was a fantastic, just stand up, slugging at each other,

who could get underneath.

-I thought it was going to be over in seconds, by the way.

-Yeah.

Yeah, you got straight in underneath there and just missed him.

-You missed tipping him out a fair few times as well.

-Yeah.

It could have gone either way

and the decision of the adjudicators was that the finalist will be...

-..Eruption. Eruption are the winners today.

-Well done.

-CHEERING

-Well done. Well done, guys.

-All the best.

So, Michael's Eruption, who had the toughest journey to get here

by winning the 10 Robot Rumble,

has made it to become our first finalist.

He'll meet the winner

of our second semifinal

between Dave and Sam's Carbide

and Rory's Nuts 2.

They might be out for blood because it's a, you know...

It's probably not the best thing for their ego to be beaten by Nuts

and they probably want to make a show of, um,

putting us down, so to speak.

After their early shock defeat at the hands of Rory,

this is shaping up to be the grudge match of the series.

I've noticed them making some modifications.

Nuts-specific modifications?

-Nuts-specific modifications. To keep their chain protected.

-OK.

-Um...

But that must feel quite nice, having Carbide try

and protect themselves against Nuts for a change.

-It's little comfort...

-No, but then, the downside is

you're in a fight against Carbide.

-Yeah, good point.

-I don't like that attitude.

Well, you know, it's Carbide and he knows what's coming this time.

-It's Carbide who you've already beaten.

-Well, that's because, you know...

Can...? Can you have a word with this guy?

-We have chatted.

-OK.

I think he's going to go after us strongly, we know that.

Of course he is, but that's fine, you can go after him strongly.

So the nut guards are basically just a device to stop the flails

of Nuts actually getting to our chain, um,

and it's made out of the front end of Rapid,

which we just ripped off, so...

that was good of 'em to give us this.

I think he's a bit worried. Um...

-I think I would be too.

-HE LAUGHS

WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

Carbide from the left.

Nuts 2 and the little clusterbots on the right-hand side.

Good attack by Carbide.

They have the chain guard now to deflect the mighty flail of Nuts 2,

the reigning champions, back in.

-Oh!

-Oh!

-Uh-oh!

Carbide came in with huge power and it's Nuts 2 sustaining damage!

Oh, that's half our rig. Got one flail left.

The full body flail spinner that is Nuts 2

against the bar spinner that is Carbide.

The little clusterbot again releases Fog Of War this time.

ALARM BLARES The Fog Of War.

They're using the clusterbots as we saw them do earlier on.

Carbide looks a bit perplexed.

Ooh, a bit wily, just staying out of trouble

until the Fog Of War cleared.

Having a look, having a check.

Nuts 2 doing absolutely nothing in there!

-Oh, what was that?

-Oh!

Nuts 2, I think, is now wild!

Oh, that's... Oh, it's gone. Nuts is gone.

I don't think they have any sort of control there, on Nuts 2.

They can't get out of the CPZ.

No, we're dead.

No, it's still moving!

They're still moving,

so they're still active, they're not immobile YET.

One side bar ripped clean off by Carbide.

-Are you dead then, guys, or what?

-Dead, yeah, we're dead.

Cool.

And the Carbide team, the clusterbots mean nothing now.

Nuts 2 immobilised and out.

-And Carbide can go in and destroy the little clusterbots.

-Aw!

KLAXON BLARES ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

Carbide, through to the final!

Reputation restored for the champions.

Always out for enjoyment, Nuts 2,

and they really perform well with the flail,

but Carbide had made the changes, they knew they could withstand

the flail with those changes

and that was the moment that the Nuts 2 protective bar

came hurtling across the arena.

Nuts 2 gone really.

Carbide, what a mean-looking machine again.

They are back to their very best.

-That's a bit of a slow, sad clap. Rory!

-Oh, dear.

-Come here! Aw, man!

-That could've gone a bit better.

-You were the joke robot coming into the competition.

-Yeah.

You beat the reigning champion once.

I don't care - most people haven't managed to do it ever.

-So, take heart and come back.

-Yeah. Oh, we will.

-Yeah?

-We will!

-Now less of a slow clap this time, please!

-Make some noise for Nuts 2.

-CHEERING

-Goodbye! Thank you so much!

-SQUEALS:

-Heartbroken.

Bye!

Dave and Sam exact their revenge, with Carbide going through

to defend their title in tonight's grand final.

Carbide is, simply put, the most feared machine in the UK.

It's proven itself now, people are scared of it.

The lean, green, robot-smashing machine

that dominated Robot Wars last series

hasn't had the easiest of tournaments.

Teams arrived fitted with Carbide-killing entanglement devices...

..and proved that the champions were beatable.

-We liked being untouchable, didn't we?

-Yeah.

So, we've had confidence knocked this year...

-It's time to step up.

-Yeah.

But Dave and Sam rose to the challenge,

ultimately despatching all those who dared to face them,

to earn their rightful place to defend their title.

Try and smash them on the left-hand side and damage the flipper arm.

Going to try that again. Hopefully it will work once more.

Their opponents Eruption have also taken a tough path.

After controversially launching friends and one of the favourites

for the title, Aftershock, out of the series...

they lost their heat.

Michael had to rely on his tactical play to claw their way back

via the 10 Robot Rumble.

However, they appear to be hitting a rich vein of form

when it matters most...

It's been my whole life, really.

The one thing I've always known my whole life -

I was like three years old, I was like, "I want to win Robot Wars".

That would be my dream come true.

..and have more than earned their place in tonight's final.

We're going to do everything we've got

and we're going to go for it, you know, it's the grand final.

We're going to do everything we can.

Drive head-on into Carbide and see what happens.

-Good luck, guys.

-Best of luck, guys.

-Good luck.

-Good luck, chaps.

-Yeah, good luck.

It comes to this... The grand final.

CHEERING

ROBOTIC VOICE: Three, two, one, activate.

There can only be one winner

and for one of these machines, the coveted trophy.

Oh, big slam there!

Carbide, trying to take Eruption out with a first attack.

The reigning champions mean business here.

They want to hold onto that trophy.

Eruption, so durable, has come through so much to get this far.

They're up against the titleholders.

Can Eruption stay out of trouble?

Oh! Another big hit from Carbide's big bar spinner - heavy, weighty.

Is his flipper broken?

Devilish. Is the flipper of Eruption still working? I'm not too sure.

We're smoking.

The flipper of Eruption is working,

the bar spinner of Carbide certainly is...

-Oh, it's working!

-Yes! Get in!

It's certainly working, we have a fight again.

I thought Eruption were out,

but that's what this whole programme has been around this time -

robots that seemed to have been down and out,

but suddenly coming back and winning.

And look at this! Eruption gets on top and Carbide is over!

-Are we dead? Weapon dead?

-Um...

The Carbide spinning blade has been stopped,

they know they're in trouble here now, Sam and Dave.

Oh, my God, the weapon's gone! He's lost his weapon.

-Oh, my God, this could be it.

-Eruption, have they still got weaponry?

Let's see, they're in underneath Carbide.

I don't think they can flip Carbide though.

Are we going to see the end of the reign here?

Ah, is it working again?

Oh, it's spinning, it's spinning.

Is it working again? There was a hint of the spinner there.

-And we have Fog Of War.

-ALARM BLARES

-ROBOTIC VOICE: The Fog Of War.

-I am totally perplexed.

Who is going to win it? I do not have one clue.

I thought they were out there, the champions, it's...

-SHE SCREAMS

-It's going again, you can hear the thrum, the drum of the bar spinner.

Goodness me. Would you believe it?

And so... Ah, what was that?!

A spark in the booth, the control booth up there.

-Oh! A hit with the floor flipper, this is wonderful stuff.

-Ooh!

-Oh!

This is great stuff. In come Eruption again, underneath Carbide.

-SHOUTS:

-Come on!

Tossing and turning it, this is the stuff of Robot Wars dream here.

Carbide and Eruption - what a final. Now, is the floor spinner working?

Yes, it still is!

We know that Eruption's flipper hasn't been quite as forceful

as we thought it...

I don't think there's any power left in the flipper,

but they do have drive.

They can push Carbide into horrible places.

They need to be careful themselves, Eruption.

Carbide on top now in the final.

But Eruption know if they can... If they can release the pit

or get in a flip like that, they can cause the champions problems.

Carbide, if they stay out of trouble,

should go on to win from this position.

But how can I say that with the unpredictability

of this whole grand final?

It's been wonderful so far.

But Carbide has the weaponry. Eruption, yes, get in a floor flip!

They've waited their moment.

Michael Oates,

he has preserved enough energy to get in the flip on Carbide.

We're going to go all the way it seems!

-Dad, time?

-36.

All the way to the judges at the end of the final of the grand final.

Wow, you couldn't have made that up.

And Eruption get a flip in and Carbide are wobbling.

-And Eruption flips...

-No! Come on!

..itself over with its own force, and Carbide drives it again.

And Eruption attacks Carbide - over they go!

Will it ever cease? Over goes the floor flipper, over goes Carbide.

Eruption nearly got themselves

caught in underneath the floor flipper,

but they escaped and could drive Carbide again.

And Carbide - this is a technical term for you - are running away!

They are running away, the champions.

Run away and try and dodge the trouble caused

by that mean and merciless Michael Oates at the controller...

-KLAXON BLARES

-But what a final.

-ROBOTIC VOICE: Cease.

-It goes to the judges.

That is a battle befitting any Robot Wars occasion

and befitting any final, and it's too close to call.

-Look at the beaten, bruised Eruption.

-Oh, what a fight!

My goodness, that is... what you want from a final.

-I know, I know. I've no idea which way that went.

-Great final.

-Well done.

-It felt better than the last one.

-Well done to you as well.

-Well done, guys.

-You deserve it if you've won it.

Great camaraderie at the end of it all.

Fully deserved, fully deserved.

The judges marking on control, damage and aggression.

Both sustained damage, both caused damage... Both had great control.

Carbide the stronger early on. Will the judges decide on that?

Eruption the stronger later on. Will the judges go for that?

I wouldn't like to be in their shoes.

It has been a brilliant final to a wonderful series, the best ever.

It is very close, too close for me to call.

It goes to our people with the brains

who have to make the decision.

What a series, but who has won it?

Ah, you know what? That is absolutely everything

we could have wished for from a Robot Wars final.

We were going nuts, they were going nuts, it was unbelievable.

How was it for you?

It's like, "We survived!"

-You did.

-Like every other time we've fought Carbide,

we've come out in a bin bag, totally destroyed,

and we lasted the full three minutes.

Yes. What would it mean to you to take home this fine lump of steel?

I think, for me, that would be...

I think that would be my dream come true, probably.

Brilliant. I don't know what to say off the back of that.

-APPLAUSE

-Let's hear it for Eruption.

CHEERING

Carbide, the second participant in, I think, our best final,

cos that was a proper scrap.

-That was properly good, wasn't it?

-It was good, wasn't it?

-And you're the reigning champions, you had to beat them in the grand final last year.

-Yeah.

And with the same two robots you'd presume -

-oh, it must have been a coronation for you both to sweep this.

-Yeah.

But this was as difficult for them and for you

-as any paths through the competition.

-That's right, yeah.

-I don't think I've ever seen you as exhausted, both of you.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

I mean, this has taken a lot out of you and Carbide.

-Yeah, it's probably time for a new one, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It's had a lot of replaced parts, um...

-We've never had an event like this where we've had to work so hard to keep it going.

-Mm.

OK, and there could be an overhaul, so this could be farewell to one of

the great champions of Robot Wars, no matter what happens tonight?

-Uh, potentially.

-Yeah.

OK, all right. Listen, give it up, ladies and gentlemen,

not just for tonight, but for the last three years, for Carbide!

CHEERING

So, one job left to do.

OK, well, as you know, it went to a judges' decision

and that decision was unanimous.

-Eruption!

-CHEERING

-Well done, Michael.

-Well done, mate.

-Thoroughly deserved.

-Well done!

-This is quite heavy. Michael, come here, come here.

This is quite heavy. Stop hugging people and lift your trophy.

-Congratulations. Ladies and gentlemen, Eruption!

-Whoo-ooh!

CHEERING

What an incredible battle.

We hope you've enjoyed this series as much as we have.

A huge thank you to all of our brilliant teams.

From all of us here,

huge congratulations to our brand-new Robot Wars champions, Eruption.

-Good night.

-Good night.

CHEERING

Michael has fulfilled his lifelong dream, but it hasn't been easy.

There's been sacrifice...

Do you approve of this, by the way? This bunking away to do this?

Well, he's worked very hard beforehand, so I'm trusting him.

..controversy...

-Are we not ceasing or what?

-It's cease.

He was carried down and then a certain young man

called Michael, um, rear-ended us!

..even defeat.

And they waited their moment perfectly

and Eruption are finished here.

But in the face of adversity, Michael never gave up...

The one thing I've always known my whole life -

I want to win Robot Wars.

It's time for the biggest battle in Robot Wars history.

Run away and dodge the trouble caused by that

mean and merciless Michael Oates.

This is the stuff of Robot Wars dream here!

..ultimately defeating Carbide in the final to become...

the new Robot Wars champion.

# Who wants to live forever?

# Who wants to live forever?

# Forever is our today. #